Gambler 27 B/GAMBLERCD27B.BIN/Utils/Magic/LIST/6E_Letter.txt

Text File | 1999-01-22 | 25KB | 511 lines

        January 15, 1999

        Dear Magic Player Community:

        In recent weeks there's been a lot of discussion of
        the pending Magic: The Gathering«--ClassicÖ (Sixth
        Edition) rules changes, which will take effect in
        tournament play on June 1, 1999. Some of you fear
        these changes will be the death of Magic« play,
        others want to wait and see the complete Sixth
        Edition rules, and still others have praised the
        changes. Let me start by telling you that the Sixth
        Edition rules changes posted on the Magic Dojo news
        are accurate. For those of you who haven't seen them,
        I have attached the Sixth Edition rules changes at
        the end of my letter.

        Some of you believe that the Magic rules are being
        "dumbed down," that Wizards of the Coast believes
        starter-level products like Magic: The
        Gathering--PortalÖ sets are the game's future, and
        that the removal of trample from Sixth Edition is the
        beginning of the end. This simply isn't true. The
        continued success of Magic lies primarily in one type
        of product: expert expansions. Magic R&D's number-one
        goal is to create interesting expansions that
        stimulate the Standard tournament environment and
        challenge current players.

        Even though expert expansions are our most important
        Magic releases, starter-level products and the basic
        set play significant, though sometimes misunderstood,
        roles in the Magic product line. Starter-level
        products aren't intended for the experienced Magic
        player. I believe that the Magic community has
        accepted this and therefore understands what Portal
        is; experienced players don't purchase or play with
        Portal cards.

        What Sixth Edition means for the experienced player
        is less black and white. Let me shock you: The
        experienced player with lots of cards has no need to
        purchase Sixth Edition. There's nothing new in Sixth
        Edition. Sixth Edition is just a combination of Fifth
        EditionÖ cards and the MirageÖ cycle, with a few
        older cards thrown in.

        The most significant impact Sixth Edition will have
        on the tournament player is the tournament-level
        cards found within it. Let me share some truths about
        Sixth Edition with you:

          1. Sixth Edition has some tournament-level cards
             that were in Fifth. Armageddon is still around.
          2. Some tournament-level cards that were in Fifth
             are not in Sixth. Adios, Dark Ritual.
          3. Some tournament-level Mirage-cycle cards are in
             Sixth. Welcome back, Uktabi Orangutan.
          4. And some tournament-level Mirage-cycle cards
             didn't make the cut. Sorry, Gemstone Mine.

        Sixth Edition can't contain all the tournament-level
        cards we've ever produced. There are only so many top
        cards a set can support before some top cards are no
        longer top cards. As the pool of cards available for
        Sixth, Seventh, and future basic editions continues
        to grow, Magic R&D will need to choose which good
        cards stay, which good cards leave, and which good
        cards return.

        For Sixth, we tried to select some tournament-level
        cards that would support existing deck types while
        removing cards that hurt existing deck types. For
        example, Necro's going. Losing Necro isn't the end of
        the world. It wasn't removed because it was too
        powerful, and it wasn't removed because of the Sixth
        Edition rules. It was removed to change the
        tournament environment and to challenge our top
        tournament players. Finally, we added some
        Mirage-cycle cards we thought were good for the
        tournament environment.

        Before I explain my reasoning behind the rules
        changes, I want you all to be aware I wasn't working
        in a box with my head stuck up my butt, refusing to
        talk to anyone. The rules team included Wizards
        people like BethMo, Tom Wylie, Richard Garfield, and
        many other members of Wizards R&D. I also worked with
        many top rules experts outside of Wizards, like
        Collin "Gammavirus" Jackson, Dan Gray, Dave DeLaney,
        David Sachs, DonaldX, Jeff Jordan, Michael "Meowse"
        Phoenix, Stephen D'Angelo, and Paul Barclay. We
        didn't always agree on all the answers (just ask
        DonaldX about triggered abilities), but we always
        discussed all the issues and the vast majority of us
        are extremely pleased with the final product.

        Our main motivation behind the Sixth Edition rules
        changes was that the rules were needlessly
        complicated and growing more so each month. I realize
        that this is a judgment call, but I ask you: How many
        rules experts are there, really? Twenty-five, maybe.
        And I have questions that will stump all of them
        because there are Fifth Edition rules questions with
        no answer. Having overly complex rules is detrimental
        for Magic play. The skill of play and of deckbuilding
        should be the challenge of Magic, the thing that
        separates good players from great players. Memorizing
        a complex rules system should not.

        While we call these changes "Sixth Edition rules
        changes," the changes have nothing to do with Sixth
        Edition other than that they are being released at
        the same time as the Sixth Edition card set. Sixth
        Edition uses only a subsection of the rules. The
        absence of trample or flanking from Sixth Edition
        doesn't mean the removal of these abilities from
        Magic play. The Magic rules have been and always will
        be designed and developed for the expert-level
        player. Please don't confuse a less complicated Sixth
        Edition card set with the Magic rules being "dumbed
        down." I have a 20,000-word rulebook currently being
        edited as proof that expert-level Magic and
        starter-level products like Portal are worlds away
        from each other.

        Before I tackle the new rules issues one by one, I
        want to note that the Sixth Edition rules changes
        attached to the end of this letter are the vast
        majority of the rules changes. There are no more
        surprises. While there are some other changes, the
        other changes are to obscure rules. The complete
        Sixth Edition rules document will be released in a
        few weeks, after it's been edited.

        On to the good stuff:

        First, no more interrupts. Can you think of the last
        time you played Counterspell and it mattered that it
        was an interrupt instead of an instant? When do you
        respond to a Counterspell? Usually to counter the
        Counterspell or to play another copy of the spell
        that was countered. Maintaining the interrupt spell
        type did very little other than lengthen the rules.
        This change makes Power Sink worse, changes the
        Armageddon - Zuran Orb combo, and adds the "Tutoring
        for a Counterspell" trick. This won't make Magic play
        worse and it won't make it better; it just makes it
        different.

        Next comes the stack. The stack was created so that
        activated abilities, instants, damage prevention, and
        triggered abilities could all work the same way. The
        rules team referred to this as the Grand Unified
        Timing System. The stack will allow players to
        respond to anything played.

        Triggered abilities were changed for the casual
        player. Lots--and I mean lots--of players don't
        understand why you can respond to a Terror by
        Unsummoning the creature, but you can't respond to a
        Nekrataal by Unsummoning the creature. The new
        triggered abilities system treats "when comes into
        play" creatures in a more intuitive way. These
        creatures truly become a creature and a sorcery
        rolled into one, and as with all sorceries, you can
        respond to the sorcery part. We also cleaned up the
        messy rules about when a triggered ability resolves
        during a spell and when the triggered ability waits
        until the spell finishes resolving.

        Damage prevention under Fifth Edition rules had the
        problem that "deal" really meant "assign." Lightning
        Bolt didn't deal damage. Lightning Bolt assigned 3
        damage to a target creature or player. The damage
        wasn't dealt when Lightning Bolt resolved; it was
        held in Never-Never Land until a damage-prevention
        step was completed. The new rules fix this. In Sixth
        Edition, when Lightning Bolt resolves, it deals its
        damage immediately.

        So, under Fifth Edition rules you waited for the Bolt
        to resolve and then played your Healing Salve during
        a damage-prevention step. Under Sixth Edition rules,
        you respond to the Bolt being played with your
        Healing Salve. First the Healing Salve resolves,
        stopping 3 damage, and then the Bolt resolves,
        dealing 3 less damage, or 0 damage. As with the
        removal of interrupts, there will be changes to some
        cards and combos. Damage prevention gets a little
        stronger. But in reality this change will have very
        little impact on Magic play.

        We reorganized phases and steps. Upkeep is now a step
        and combat is now a phase. They're just title changes
        with no impact on game play.

        The rule about losing immediately when you have 0
        life is just intuitive. It matches what happens to
        creatures that have 0 toughness or take lethal
        damage. I only need to make one apology, to the one
        person harmed by this rules change: I'm sorry, Mark
        Rosewater. I've made it harder for you to create your
        puzzles.

        Having artifacts no longer "turn off" when they're
        tapped was a tough decision. I chose short-term pain
        for long-term gain. My strategy was to remove the
        rule from the rulebook so noncreature artifacts would
        work like all other permanents. But to keep the
        strategic element of artifacts turning off, we're
        going to add the turn-off ability to the card text.
        Sixth Edition's Howling Mine will say, "At the
        beginning of each player's draw step, if Howling Mine
        is untapped, that player draws an additional card."
        The short-term pain is that players using the new
        rules with older versions of some cards will need to
        know some errata. So what else is new? One goal of
        these rules changes is to reduce the amount of errata
        issued on future cards.

        Phase abilities have been eliminated. They've been
        replaced by triggered abilities that trigger on the
        beginning of the phase. This change makes the rules a
        lot simpler and doesn't reduce any strategy of play.
        (For each of the few strategies lost, there's a new
        strategy gained.)

        "End of turn" posed some of the most interesting
        rules questions. What does it really mean to do
        something at the end of your turn? Let's say that at
        the end of my turn I discard down to seven cards. If
        when I do so a triggered event occurs, it's no longer
        the end of my turn. What the new rules do (using lots
        of legal-type talk) is make sure that the last things
        you do at the end of your turn are clear all
        nonlethal damage and discard down to seven cards.
        Tournament players will learn the new rules and use
        them to their advantage in the one game in a hundred
        in which they apply. Casual players will go on
        playing the way they always have. It's just that now
        the casual player will be playing the game correctly.

        I've saved the most significant changes for last: the
        changes to combat. There are two changes to combat,
        other than that we're no longer just pretending
        combat is a phase. First, tapped blockers now deal
        combat damage. We wrestled with this issue for a long
        time. In the end, we decided that there was no
        strategic gain to maintaining this rule. The strategy
        lost (I can't Twiddle your blocking creature to stop
        its damage) is replaced by the strategy of using
        creatures to block and then tap for effects. Offense
        loses a little, defense gains a little.

        We made a bigger change to the way creatures deal
        their combat damage. This change was made so that
        combat damage fit into the Grand Unified Timing
        System. We wanted to allow players to prevent damage
        after they saw how creature damage was being divided
        (which is what happens under Fifth Edition rules). We
        also wanted for spells played during combat to work
        the same way they do outside of combat. In the end we
        created a system that has simpler rules but much more
        complex play strategies.

        These changes to the Magic rules will have some
        impact on the game. Casual players will feel only a
        little change. Tournament players will need to adjust
        their decks and play styles slightly to account for
        the new rules. The impact these rules will have on
        the tournament environment will be far less extreme
        than the impact of a new set. Tolarian Academy
        changed the tournament environment far more than
        Sixth Edition rules ever will. The Magic environment
        is designed to accommodate change--in fact, Magic
        would become stale without change.

        I believe the Sixth Edition rules are best for the
        long-term health of Magic play. The rules changes
        shift the Magic strategy back to the cards, where it
        belongs. As with all change, there will be some
        short-term costs. All I ask is that you learn and
        play with the Sixth Edition rules changes before you
        judge them. In the end I believe most of you will
        agree that these changes are best for the game. And
        that's all any of us wants: what is best for Magic
        play.

        Bill Rose
        Magic Lead Designer

        Sixth Edition Rules Changes
        (These rules changes become effective in tournament
        play on June 1, 1999.)

        The Stack

        Forget batches and series--whenever you play a spell
        or ability, it goes on the stack. You can then play
        another spell or ability or pass. If you pass, your
        opponent gets priority to play spells and abilities.
        When you both pass in succession, the spell or
        ability on top of the stack resolves. Then the player
        whose turn it is (the active player) gets priority
        again. You don't have to wait for everything on the
        stack to resolve before playing another spell.

        Example: I play Hammer of Bogardan on your Fallen
        Angel. You respond by playing The Hive's ability to
        create a Wasp token. After The Hive's ability
        resolves and your Wasp comes into play, you sacrifice
        it to your Fallen Angel. The Angel, now 5/4, takes 3
        damage from the Hammer and survives.

        Abilities that add mana to your pool don't go on the
        stack. (These are now called mana abilities.) You
        simply get the mana immediately. Spells that produce
        mana, however, such as Dark Ritual, go on the stack
        like other spells. Mana abilities can be played only
        when you have priority or are asked to pay mana. Mana
        sources no longer exist.

        Countering Spells

        Classic rules do away with interrupts. All interrupts
        are now instants, which means you can counter a spell
        any time before it resolves. (Abilities that trigger
        on a spell being "successfully cast" now trigger on a
        spell being "played.")

        Example: I play Terror on a creature you control. You
        respond by playing Inspiration, which lets you draw
        two cards. One of the cards you draw is Counterspell.
        You can now play it to counter my Terror.

        Damage Prevention and Regeneration

        Classic eliminates the damage-prevention step. Damage
        is no longer dealt ("assigned") and then successfully
        dealt--it's simply dealt. Damage prevention,
        regeneration, and other spells and abilities that
        generate replacement effects are now played just like
        other instants.

        When such a spell or ability resolves, its effect
        creates a kind of shield. Damage-prevention effects
        create shields that prevent the next damage the
        target would take. Regeneration's effect creates a
        shield that replaces a permanent's next destruction
        with regeneration. These shields last until used up
        or until the next cleanup step, whichever comes
        first.

        If an effect prevents a specific amount of damage, it
        creates a shield that hangs around until that amount
        of damage is prevented.

        Example: I tap my Prodigal Sorcerer to deal 1 damage
        to your Tundra Wolves. You respond by playing Healing
        Salve on the Wolves. The Salve resolves first,
        setting up a shield that can prevent 3 damage. When
        the Sorcerer's ability resolves, the shield prevents
        the 1 damage and waits around for the rest of the
        turn to prevent up to 2 more.

        If two different effects could each prevent the same
        damage, the "shielded" player or controller of the
        "shielded" creature chooses which effect gets
        applied.

        All damage-prevention spells and abilities are now
        targeted. This means, for example, that you can't
        play Healing Salve on a creature with protection from
        white.

        Triggered Abilities

        In the Classic set, any ability that begins with
        "when," "whenever," or "at" (as in "At the beginning
        of your upkeep") is a triggered ability.

        When a triggered ability's condition is met, the
        ability automatically goes on the stack. Its
        controller chooses all targets for it, and when it
        resolves, makes all other choices for it. If two or
        more triggered abilities go on the stack at the same
        time, those controlled by the active player go first.
        If one player controls two or more, that player
        chooses their order. Triggered abilities can no
        longer resolve while another spell or ability is
        resolving.

        Phase abilities have all been changed to triggered
        abilities that trigger when the specified phase or
        step begins.

        Under Fifth Edition rules, you couldn't play a
        permanent's abilities until you dealt with its phase
        costs and "comes-into-play" costs. This rule no
        longer exists. Abilities that read, "do A or do B"
        should now be read as "You may do A. If you don't, do
        B."

        Phases and Steps

        Each turn now has five phases: beginning, main,
        combat, second main, and end.

        The beginning phase has three steps: untap, upkeep,
        and draw. No spells or abilities can be played during
        the untap step, and abilities that trigger during
        untap wait until the beginning of the upkeep step to
        go on the stack. If an effect instructs you to do
        something at the beginning of the turn, you do it at
        the beginning of upkeep.

        Upkeep abilities ("During your upkeep, do A") are now
        triggered abilities: "At the beginning of your
        upkeep, do A." Likewise, abilities that read "During
        your upkeep, do A or do B" should now be read as "At
        the beginning of your upkeep, you may do A. If you
        don't, do B."

        There are now two main phases in every turn. They're
        separated by combat, which is now its own phase. You
        may still play only one land per turn. Phase
        abilities played at the beginning of or during your
        main phase are now triggered abilities that trigger
        at the beginning of your first main phase.

        The end phase has two steps: end of turn and cleanup.
        The end-of-turn step works just like the upkeep step.
        When it begins, all triggered abilities that start
        with "At end of turn" go on the stack. When the
        cleanup step begins, the active player discards down
        to the maximum hand size (usually seven cards). Then
        all damage on creatures is removed and effects that
        last "until end of turn" end. If any abilities
        trigger during the cleanup step, they go on the
        stack, and then the active player gets priority to
        play spells and abilities. If no abilities trigger,
        no one gets priority. If any spells or abilities
        resolve during cleanup, the whole step is repeated.
        Otherwise, the turn ends.

        Combat

        Combat is now its own phase with five steps:
        beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare
        blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. Spells
        and abilities may be played during each of these
        steps, but only after the step's mandatory parts have
        been completed. For example, you can play a spell
        during declare attackers only after attackers have
        been declared.

        The declare attackers and declare blockers steps are
        unchanged, but dealing combat damage works
        differently. The active player announces how he or
        she wants attacking creatures' combat damage to be
        dealt, then the defending player does the same for
        blocking creatures. Tapped blockers now deal combat
        damage just like untapped ones. Because there's no
        damage-prevention step in Classic, the combat damage
        isn't dealt immediately--instead, it goes on the
        stack. Players may then play spells and abilities as
        usual. Nothing that happens to the attacking and
        blocking creatures can affect damage that's on the
        stack waiting to be dealt. When the stack reaches the
        combat damage, it's dealt according to the earlier
        damage announcements, even if one or more of the
        creatures in combat are no longer in play.

        Example: I block your Fire Elemental (5/4) with my
        Air Elemental (4/4). The creatures' combat damage
        goes to the stack. Afterward, I play Unsummon on my
        Air Elemental. The Unsummon resolves, returning the
        Air Elemental to my hand, and then the combat damage
        is dealt. The Air Elemental deals 4 damage to the
        Fire Elemental--even though it's no longer in play.

        The end-of-combat step works like the upkeep and
        end-of-turn steps. When the step begins, all
        abilities that trigger on the end of combat go on the
        stack.

        Miscellaneous

        You now lose the game as soon as you reach 0 life,
        not at the end of the phase.

        Artifacts' continuous abilities now work the same way
        as other permanents' abilities. They no longer "shut
        off" while the artifact is tapped.

        Under Classic rules, you choose modes and targets for
        a spell or ability (and pay costs) when you play it,
        but you make all other choices when the spell or
        ability resolves, not when it's played. You can
        identify modal spells and abilities by the "Choose
        one--" phrase.

        Questions and Feedback

        If you have any questions, ask Bill. Mr. Rose will
        compile a list of the most frequently asked questions
        and make a weekly update to this website.

        (C)1999 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved.